Oda Omoto Shrine

 

Wednesday April 30th, 2014, and I start day 7 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage from my home and head south across the river and through Kawado.

Fot this first section of the day I am following the Yato River and after Kawado the next village is Oda. One of the very common place names in Japan, it means either Big Paddy or Little Paddy, depending on the kanji used. This one is Little Paddy.

I follow the old road through the village rather than the new road that bypasses it by following the river. About the middle of the village a grove of tall trees are noticeable behind what is a small community centre.

As is often the case with a grove of old trees, this is a sacred grove, marked by a shimenawa and a small altar in front.

This is a shrine to Omoto, a local "land" kami that gets no mention in any of the so-called "shinto" holy books, the Kojiki and Nihonshoki, no connection whatsoever to any of the imperial kami, and is not officially recognized as a shrine, and yet is the most popular kami in the region. In Izumo and on the Oki Islands she is known as Kojin, and is also represented as a rope serpent.

The rope serpent is made and used in a form of shamanic kagura that was once widespread in western japan but was outlawed, along with Shugendo from which it derived,  in 1868. It continues in this small part of japan however. If anyone is interested in seeing some of this shamanic kagura, leave a message or comment.

The previous post in this series on the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage was on Mishima Shrine in Kawakudari that I visited at the end of the previous days walk.

Mishima Shrine Kawakudari

 

Kawakudari is a small settlement on the Gonokawa River between Imbara and Kawamoto. I arrived here  towards the end of my 7th day walking the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage, ready to catch the bus downriver to my home.

The village shrine was established in 1394 by the son of the first Iwami-Ogasawara Clan lord to enshrine Mishima Daimyojin. The main kami is Oyamazumi whose head shrine is on Omishima Island between Honshu and Shikoku, and I believe Mishima shrines derive from the main one in Shizuoka.

The tengai inside indicates that in earlier times kagura would have been performed here, but seems to not be in use nowadays. In the grounds is a small kasuga shrine and an Inari shrine, quite possibly moved here from nearby early in the twentieth century.

The previous post in the series was on Chokoji Temple, the 10th on the pilgrimage.

Chokoji Temple 10 Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage

 

Chokoji is a Soto sect Zen temple in a remote area of Iwami that has a deep connection with the Iwami Ogasawara Clan.

The temple was founded in the 14th century and seems to have been originally a site founded by the clan as a spot for samurai to recover from wounds. A wooden pillow held by the temple was a gift from Ashikaga Yoshitane to Ogasawara Nagataka for his help in the Battle of Kyoto in 1508

The Ogasawara were not a big clan but were given the domain to protect the Iwami coast following the Mngol Invasions. As the Warring States Period increased the power of the nearby Amago and Ouchi Clans the Ogasawara switched allegiances several times and eventually submitted to the Mori.

Chokoji was the family temple for the clan. The honzon is a Shaka Nyorai, and the Kannon for the pilgrimage is in its own Kannon-do (photo 6).

Nowadays, it is known primarily for the huge Gingko tree in the grounds that creates a golden carpet in late Autumn. I highly recommend this post on the autumn colors here.

The previous post was on the walk to Chokoji from Kannabiji.

Things Seen Between Kannabiji and Chokoji

 

Late April, 2014, and I am on day 6 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon Pilgrimage. Visiting two temples today and I started from my home and headed upriver. First pilgrimage temple was Kannabiji, and the next is Chokoji. These photos are from things I noticed between the two temples.

Not far from Kannabiji is/was Mizunokuni, the top photo. A  museum specializing in water, I have visited often and most vistors I took rated it very highly. It closed down in 2018. Some shots from a last visit....

The second photo is a kura, storehouse, that has been beautifully restored. This third shot is one of the many roadside statues found everywhere. This one looks to have not been tended in quite a while.

From the water museum I head away from the Gonokawa River and up a side valley. I am pretty certain that on most days there is absolutely no traffic as it is a forest road that doesnt have any habitation along it.

A little further and you catch a glimpse of Sakamoto Falls. Climbing over the roadside crash barriet and edge along a rock outcropping and it becomes more clearly visible.

I can find no details about, height etc. I seem to remember that twenty years ago is was marked on maps as "Big waterfall".

A little further up the valley and I reach the side road that climbs out of it and over to Mihara. Right there at the junction is the skeleton of a wild boar.

A pretty big one, and it has been picked clean. Hard to believe it would have been a road kill as any traffic would be moving pretty slowly.

The road climbs through the forest and emerges in the farming settlement of Mihara. Nearby is Maruyama, a conical mountain on top of which once stood Maruyama Castle. The lord of that castle was a big supporter of both Kannabiji and Chokoji temples.

The rice paddies are all being flooded in preparation for planting in a week or two.

I head east across Mihara and then start to descend another empty, rural road towards Yudani where I will find Chokoji. No matter where you go in Japan you are never far from an expanse of concrete, whether it is on a mountainside or a coastline.

This badger was out and about in the middle of the day. Usually active at dusk and in the night, I have seen them occasionally during the day. here are a couple of post with short videos of badgers around my house. The previous post was on Kannabiji Temple.

Kannabiji Temple 11 on the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage

 

Kannabiji is one of the oldest temples in the area I live. It was founded in 746 and it is said that Kobo Daishi later visited and converted it to Shingon.

It was located halfway up a mountain and was supported by the Ogasawara Clan who operated from the nearby Maruyama Castle. In 1872 the area suffered a big earthquake known as the Hamada Earthquake and it caused the spring at the temple to dry up, so the temple was forced to relocate to its current location.

When I visited in early May the azaleas and botanzakura were in full bloom. In the grounds is a very large weeping cherry and by the gate a huge gingko. These last two may have been in the old temple that stood here before Kannabiji was moved here.

I was visiting on day 6 of my walk along the Iwami Kannon pilgrimage, with Kannabiji being number 11. It is also temple 22 on the recently rediscovered Iwami Ginzan Kannon pilgrimage.

The honzon is a Kokuzo Boddhisattva, not a very well-known bodhisattva, but the one that was instrumental in the training of Kobo Daishi..

The Nio are quite cool, and by the side of the main building are a set of rakan statues, (last photo). I cant remember seeing the Kannon statue.

The priest lives nearby in a modern house, but a huge, traditional house sits to the left of the main hall.

The main altar bis quite colourful, with some excellent dragon paintings.

The storehouse is actually a small museum whose prize possession is the remains of a set of samurai armour that dates back to the Heian period and is believed to be the second or third oldest samurai armour in Japan. It is not much to look at but at the art museum in Sakurae Town is a full replica.

On this leg of my walk I walked the route "backwards" from my house upriver. The previous post was on the Zen temple in my village, Hikasaji.

Hikasaji Temple 32 Iwami Ginzan Kannon pilgrimage

 

Hikasaji is a small, Soto Zen temple about one kilometer upstream from my village. I was walking day 6 of my walk along the Iwami Mandal Kannon pilgrimage. heading upriver to the next couple of temples on that pilgrimage.

Hikasaji is not on that pilgrimage, but is temple 32 on the Iwami Ginzan Kannon pilgrimage, a recently rediscovered pilgrimage route from the Edo period.

In the early Edo period the Tokugawa government took over the silver mine at Iwami Ginzan and made it their territory. It encompassed all the land from this side of the Gonokawa River up to the border with Izumo. The Iwami Kannon pilgrimage I have been walking covers all of the Iwami area including the other side of the river. I am guessing the new Iwami Ginzan Kannon pilgrimage dates back to then.

I can find no information on when Hikasaji was founded. The Kannon statue that was the honzon no longer exists, but there is a newish Kannon statue on the grounds.

The temple gate is quite nice, and there is also a small bell tower.

The documents about the old Ginzan pilgrimage were recently discovered in an old storehouse belonging to a former samurai family a few more kilometers upstream near to the next temple I will stop at.

The previous post in this series on day 6 of my walk was on the koinobori hanging across the river in front of the temple.